April 05, 2019 at 09:57AM Here’s what you can do to get some quality zzz’s. Continue Reading… Author Caroline Muggia | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
Month: April 2019
Fitness blogger Sarah Stevenson shows the reality of childbirth in a spare-no-details video
April 05, 2019 at 09:49AM by CWC In a video with 1.4 million views and counting, holistic health blogger Sarah Stevenson did something few have done before her: record—and post on the Internet for the world to see—the labor and delivery of her first-born son, Fox Ocean Tilse. The less “photogenic” elements of pregnancy and childbirth are still largely hidden from public view, making Stevenson’s on-camera vulnerability a sight for sore eyes. In the caption of a photo Stevenson posted to Instagram, she describes childbirth as “the toughest thing we’ve ever gone through but by far the most rewarding.” Her video condenses the two-day endeavor (“over 24 hours of pre-labor, seven hours of active labor, and no sleep for over 40 hours”) into 25 minutes. Not to worry, that’s plenty of time to watch her clock her contractions, consult her midwife, make toast, bounce on her balance ball, cry, go to the hospital, consider the possibility of an emergency C-section, opt to have an epidural, and—you know—mentally prepare for becoming a parent. Nothing—and I mean nothing—is left out (see: the catheter discussion at minute 23). [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVxe6yESoh4] Now that the video has been released, Stevenson says she has every intention of being totally transparent about her new identity as a mom. She’s already taken to the ‘gram to share how her body’s looking and feeling. “Right now, seven days since giving birth to Fox, I love my body more than ever!! I’m so excited to wear jeans, bend down to
Here’s what a serving size actually looks like of 10 of your favorite healthy foods
April 05, 2019 at 07:01AM by CWC Conventional wisdom (and most research) tells us that healthy eating requires eating balanced portions of a wide variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Seems simple enough…except for the fact that what’s recommended on the back of a nutrition label isn’t always enlightening. And a lot of traditional serving size definitions are pretty unhelpful, tbh. (When was the last time you looked at a deck of cards as a size reference for anything?) “Portion sizes can get a bit confusing, since a lot of nutrition labels talk in grams for portions and people don’t carry a food scale around in their back pocket,” says Brigitte Zeitlin, R.D., owner of BZ Nutrition in New York City. “One serving can seem a bit abstract and not really a concrete visual to understand.” Most of us tend to overestimate portions since we’re used to restaurant portions—which are actually more like double the recommended serving size, Zeitlin says. The one exception: vegetables, which most of us don’t get enough of. “I tell clients to double or sometimes triple the fresh veggies they have in a day,” she says. By doing so, you’ll edge closer to your recommended 25 grams daily grams of fiber, plus you’ll get a dose of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Not sure what a portion is? Here’s what a serving size actually looks like for 10 healthy foods you’re probably plopping in your grocery cart all the time. 1. Cashews Photo: W+G Creative Serving
First comes love, then comes…TBD depending on the year you met, says new survey
April 05, 2019 at 07:03AM by CWC Ever feel just not on the same page as your your parents or adult children when it comes to beliefs about relationship progression? Having to “break the news” of plans to cohabitate with an S.O. to parents who would rather their kiddo be “married and settled down” is a common story, these days. While in this scenario, everyone essentially wants the same thing—a happy, committed, stabile situation—the image of what it looks like includes different features depending on the generation you belong to. Now, not only are people meeting in different ways than in, say, the ’70s (hello, online dating), but according to new research, entire phases of a relationship are totally different. The paradigm of meet, start dating, get married, move in together, and maybe have a few kids, is totally passé. A recently published survey called, “How Couples Meet and Stay Together,” published by Stanford University, included more than 3,500 people who entered relationships between the ’70s and 2010s. It sought to establish patterns on how couples met, how long it took before things turned romantic, when or if they started living together, got married, or reached partnership status. And according to the results, times, they are a-changin’. For example, in the 1970s after four years of dating, 74 percent of couples were married (or had a partnership status), and 2 percent were unmarried and living together. In the 2010s after four years of dating, on the other hand, 44 percent
The best fruit-spiked skin care to target just about every single concern
April 05, 2019 at 06:27AM by CWC These days, I have to do a double take when I open my skin-care cabinet to make sure I’m not actually opening a refrigerator. From apples to citrus to strawberries to pineapples, there are enough fruit-based actives in my current product arsenal to rival the Sunday farmer’s market. And for good reason: Fruits, in general, are packed with antioxidants, which means slathering them onto your skin offers a whole slew of benefits, including pollution protection and anti-aging. Plus, since many of nature’s candies tend to be packed with water, they also happen to extra-hydrating, too. We all know that we need our daily serving of fruits (and veggies) in our diets, and our skin-care routines deserve the same treatment for optimal health. But instead of choosing just one ingredient to add to your arsenal, why not turn it into a full-on fruit salad? Here, we’ve got all the luminance-boosting products to help you do it. Banana This skin care is bananas, b-a-n-a…you get the idea. “Since bananas are power packed with essential vitamins such as B3, B5, B6 and vitamin C, they produce fabulous results in keeping the skin healthy and fresh,” says dermatologist Karen Hammerman, MD, of Schweiger Dermatology Group in Garden City, New York. “The vitamin A in bananas helps to restore skins moisture and treat dullness, dryness and damages skin.” Because they’re made up of 75 percent water, they make great hydrators for dry skin. Shop banana skin-care products
The biggest indicator of your personality type is definitely whether you make your bed each day
April 05, 2019 at 06:19AM by CWC One of the best deceptions of my post-adolescence involves smoothing out my sheets before a guest comes over in order to create a sleep sanctuary (one that will, in all likelihood, be demolished after they leave). There’s a reason for that—making your bed gives the illusion of put-togetherness; it’s solid proof that you’re Living Your Best Life. A recent study (“study,” really) is speaking to the differences between bed-makers and non-bed-makers, and the results are…well, I only feel slightly attacked. In a survey conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by Sleepopolis, 2,000 Americans divulged their personal habits (including their music, TV, and alarm clock preferences), as well as whether they regularly make the bed in the morning (or not). It found that bed-makers are “adventurous, confident, sociable, and high-maintenance,” while non-bed-makers are “shy, moody, curious, and sarcastic.” Uh, what do you mean, moody? It goes on to say that bed-makers are bright-eyed morning people who have sex just a liiiittle bit more than non-bed-makers (three times a week versus two). They have better quality of sleep and more time in the day to get s***t done during the day because they wake up a whopping 16 minutes earlier. Yeah, because they don’t hit snooze 500 times like most bed-makers (guilty). Historically speaking, being a bed-maker is emblematic of major prospects. When researching for her book on happiness, Gretchen Rubin revealed that bed-making was consistently brought up in conversations about mood-boosting life changes. Historically speaking, though, being a
What’s *really* in your go-to CBD product? Here’s how to know for sure
April 05, 2019 at 05:02AM by CWC A few months ago, I got a package in the mail from a new CBD brand called Populum. When I opened the box, I was surprised to see that a product wasn’t the only thing inside—there was also a mega-lengthy list of lab results for the bottle of hemp oil I held in my hands. It looked exactly like the printout you get when you have bloodwork done at the doctor, except instead of, say, vitamin D and hormone levels, this one was testing for heavy metals, industrial chemicals, microbes and mold toxins, and even the levels of CBD and other cannabinoids in the product. Until that point, I’d never actually thought about what was in the CBD products I’d been test-driving on a near daily basis. But as someone with an irrational fear of conventionally-grown kale, I was shook—are contaminants really that big of a problem on the CBD market? According to Anna Symonds, director of education at Oregon cannabis farm East Fork Cultivars, there actually are several toxins that can potentially make their way into CBD products, starting on the farm. “All cannabis plants, including hemp, are bioaccumulators,” says Symonds, who runs East Fork Cultivars’ CBD Certified program. “That means they will pull any existing contaminants out of the soil and into the plant—things like heavy metals and pesticide and petrochemical residues. And if the grower is using pesticides, those can also remain in the plant.” To be clear, the produce we
What it *really* means if your muscles aren’t sore after a workout
April 05, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC There are a couple of things I love about being done with a workout. Number one is that I’m riding high on endorphins. And two is that I get to feel that uber-satisfying accomplishment of having sore muscles. I mean, yeah it sucks when going up stairs hurts and my legs feel really heavy—but it also makes me feel proud, because I know that I’ve put in some good work during my sweat sesh. It’s also exactly why I get kind of mad if my muscles aren’t sore after a workout. I’m not alone, either—being sore has become fitness currency of sorts. It’s definitely misleading, though. “If you’re a high-level athlete or a seasoned gym-goer, you’re trying all sorts of things to feel soreness because it gives you that feeling that you’re accomplished,” says Rondel King, MS, an exercise physiologist at NYU Langone Sports Performance Center. “But it gets to a point where it’s not necessary to feel that soreness.” It’s not like your workout didn’t mean anything, BTW. But experts note that muscle soreness does not necessarily equate a good workout. “If you’re not sore after a workout, it doesn’t mean that you didn’t workout,” says Chase Weber, a celebrity trainer. (I mean, of course.) “Soreness just means you worked a muscle that hasn’t been worked in a while, or that the muscle didn’t have enough endurance. It could also be sore or more tender than normal because it was a different
Our Top Picks From IKEA’s New Collection That’s All About Self-Care
April 05, 2019 at 03:03AM Yep, IKEA is getting in on the self-care game too. Continue Reading… Author Emma Loewe | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
Trader Joe’s Teeny Tiny avocados are the secret to never watching half your avo rot again
April 05, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC Being a plant mom has nothing on bringing home a batch of avocados. My indoor jungle is still #thriving with hardly any maintenance, but avos, on the other hand, need to be constantly babied. Because the second you blink, they go from hard and unripe to completely rotten. There is a solution, though. You just have to get the mini version. If you venture into Trader Joe’s, you might notice the healthy grocer’s Teeny Tiny Avocados are back. While the full-size versions are hard to eat before they go bad, these little cuties are half the size. And it’s the exact amount you need for your avocado toast, with nothing left over to turn brown in the fridge—not to mention the easiest way to get your healthy fat fix on the go, as the single-serve option can fit right in your purse. Photo: Trader Joe’s While the mini avocados, which range from $2.69 to $2.99 for a six-pack, seem like a special variety, Men’s Health says they’re regular ol’ California Haas avocados—just ones that didn’t reach their full sizes due to poor weather conditions. Because of that, you can expect the same taste, texture, and nutritional punch you know and love. Each is 160 calories and contains 15 grams of fat, 3 grams of fiber, and 3 grams of protein. So instead of quitting your job to become a full-time avocado babysitter, maybe just grab a couple of these pint-size bags instead. Trader